finding peace Archives - Amazing Health Advances

Navigating Regret

The AHA! Team — Fri, 15 Nov 2024 06:34:25 +0000

Dr. Caroline Leaf – In this podcast (episode #596) and blog, I talk about how uncontrolled regret can affect us mentally and physically and how to manage our regrets and make them work for us and not against us. This is a replay of a Neurolive webinar I did on my app. For the full webinar Ad-free, please see Neurocycle.app, or look for Neurocycle on the App Store or Google Play. Unmanaged regret can make us feel like we are truly wading through a swamp with no end in sight. Regret is one of those emotions that is so crippling that it can be hard to get through the day, let alone move forward or heal. It is so easy to feel like we are drowning in our “darkest moments”. This is also pretty insidious. It tends to haunt so many areas of our lives at once, sometimes without us even realizing until it is too late. Suddenly, we are caught in a thunderstorm of disappointment, guilt, remorse, sorrow or helplessness, and are left asking how, we got here and how we can leave. If this sounds familiar, you are not alone. Regret encompasses so many human emotions, especially sadness, disappointment, frustration, and can leave us incapacitated and unable to heal. This usually results from something that has happened, something that has been done to us, a lost opportunity, or lost time. We tend to take out our regrets most on ourselves, torturing our minds with various scenarios on what could have happened, which can have many negative mental and physical health repercussions. Regret feels awful because, by its nature, it makes us think that there was something we could have done or said differently, or some better choice we could have made. It compounds all these swirling emotions with feelings of guilt and shame, further incapacitating our ability to move on and heal. Over time, this can impact our overall wellbeing because the emotional distress that unmanaged regret triggers can dysregulate our hormones and immune system, making them vulnerable to ill-health. Imaging studies show increased activity in several areas of the brain, including the medial orbitofrontal cortex, the anterior cingulate cortex and the hippocampus, when we experience regret. If we stay in the state of mind, this high activity can become unbalanced and contribute to all kinds of problems in the brain and body. We have to learn how to manage regrets because they are an inescapable part of life. Every day is packed with choices, many of which can go wrong. Even the most “well lived” life is not perfect! Some of the most common regrets we experience are ones relating to education, career, romance, parenting, the self, and leisure, which, are all ongoing and organic experiences filled with choices and possible mistakes. These regrets, if managed, can help us learn from our mistakes because they allow us to see possibilities and potential outcomes, which gives us better data for more informed decisions. Dwelling on the past in a healthy way, to learn something about our current and future selves, can help us conceptualize and realize our “ideal self” in the future as well as help with regret in the present by emphasizing our ability to grow and heal. One of the best ways we can learn to manage our regrets and keep ourselves from spiraling is to develop what I call a “possibilities mindset”. Develop what I call a “possibilities mindset” This is a way of thinking that perceives all kinds of probabilities and potentialities in any given situation. It is intrinsically hopeful, and can help us reframe regret as a part of our journey towards a future, better destination. When we embrace a possibilities mindset, we see “could have and would have” scenarios as possibilities that may or may not have happened, which provide enriching information that may be useful for us in the present or future. These regrets become data to enrich our experience as opposed to a battering ram to beat us up. Practice this; don’t allow yourself to see your regrets as failures that define who you are as a person. See them as possibilities that didn’t materialize, which you can still learn from to open up future probabilities. Visualize these scenarios as opportunities where you gained knowledge that will help you in the future. Make this a habit; deliberately and intentionally practice seeing possibilities in every regret you have and writing them down, which will help organize your thinking. I love using tables to do this as I analyze each regret and look for the possibilities that it can lead to in my life. The more you do this, the more you will find yourself applying this mindset in your life. Start with more simple regrets first to build up your resilience to face major regrets you may be holding onto. For more on managing regret, listen to my podcast (episode #596). Podcast Highlights 2:00 Getting out of the regret trap 2:30 Unmanaged regret can be incredibly crippling 4:00 What regret is & how it impacts us 6:30 Regret can affect us mentally & physically 8:00, 17:52 Managing regret Switch On Your Brain LLC. is providing this podcast as a public service. Reference to any specific viewpoint or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by our organization. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. If you have any questions about this disclaimer, please contact info@drleaf.com. This podcast and blog are for educational purposes only and are not intended as medical advice. We always encourage each person to make the decision that seems best for their situation with the guidance of a medical professional. To read the original article click here.

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One Month to a Grateful Heart

AHA Publisher — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 07:00:10 +0000

Dr. Don Colbert – Heart check: Do you have a grateful heart? While we often talk about physical heart health, it’s just as important to look at emotional and spiritual heart health. If you embody gratefulness, you are likely able to look past the everyday struggles and find peace in life’s turmoil. But if not, you may be sinking in a pit of anxiety, jealousy, or pessimism. What’s more, you might be missing an amazing opportunity to improve physical health through gratitude. Honestly, it’s not always easy to have a grateful heart. However, our God has promised to help us in the journey to a truly grateful heart, unshaken by life’s ups and downs. It’s not your burden to bear alone, but a beautiful walk with God. One Month to a Grateful Heart During November, take a cue from the upcoming Thanksgiving Holiday and put gratitude into practice every day. Here are 4 ways to strengthen your own heart with daily thanksgiving throughout the month. 1. SPEND TIME IN GOD’S WORD AND IN PRAYER. When Jesus prayed, He praised God. At the Last Supper, just hours before His crucifixion, He thanked God. This is the example we have: Give praise and be thankful. Of course, this can be easier said than done when life gets tough. But, the more you spend time with God, the Giver of all good things, the more you will see just how good He is. Try spending time with Him, even if just a few minutes, every single day. From there, the gratitude in your heart can overflow into every other part of your life. 2. ACKNOWLEDGE THE THINGS FOR WHICH YOU ARE GRATEFUL, ALL DAY EVERY DAY. Have you heard of the book One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp? It is a beautiful portrayal of gratitude in a daily, ordinary life. Ann teaches that gratitude precedes God’s miracles in Scripture and throughout our own lives. In the book, Ann tells the story of how she came to the challenge of writing down 1000 things she was thankful for. She kept a notepad and pen handy, and wrote down small and big gratitudes, throughout each day. For her, it was life changing. Do you think a daily, hourly, moment-by-moment focus on gratitude could change your life? What do you have to lose? Take this challenge in November. Start small, and write just a few per day if you’d like. Keep your mind and your attitude focused on the things for which you are thankful! 3. LOOK OUTSIDE YOURSELF When we are in the middle of turmoil or feeling defeated, it’s very easy to lose sight of our own blessings. One of the best cures? Get involved with helping others! Taking the focus off ourselves and blessing others is a great way to develop a grateful heart. You can pray for others daily. You can bless others with a note, text, or encouraging call. You can give small gifts out of the blue – anything from flowers from your garden to a coffee gift card. Or, get involved in a bigger operation with an established charitable group. 4. GIVE YOURSELF LOTS OF GRACE Lastly, there’s no room for perfectionism here. Gratitude requires grace. If you slip up, feel down, miss a day of writing down your blessings, or just have a negative attitude for a day, give yourself grace. As you do, you’ll learn to take captive the negative thoughts, forgive yourself, and move on quickly. If you’re feeling sad about yourself, it’s difficult to simultaneously feel grateful. We serve a God who not only forgives us, but takes our worries and cares from us. Give yourself grace and continue to look for your blessings each day. A Grateful Heart Bolsters Physical Health Did you know a grateful heart is actually good for you, physically? It’s true. Some of the health benefits of a grateful heart include: Stronger mental health: Believe it or not, you can decrease cortisol, the stress hormone, by up to 23% by practicing gratitude (1). What’s more, healthcare practitioners have sustained lower perceived stress (decrease of 28%) and depression by keeping a gratitude journal (2). Controlling cortisol is crucially important to overall health. Healthier Hearts: In studies, gratitude is associated with better cholesterol levels, lowered blood pressure and decreased heart rate variability. This all works together to improve cardiovascular health and overall health (4, 5). Ease with Change and Healthy Habits: Some benefits of gratitude work in reverse. Researchers have found that those who practice gratitude also tend to make healthier choices. Specifically, there’s an association between those who are reportedly grateful and less use of tobacco, more exercise, and better food choices (5, 6). On the flip side, gratitude intervention shows promise when helping patients increase healthy habits. In one study, 31% of participants quit smoking and maintained abstinence after 6 months, compared to meta-analysis averages of 23% with a nicotine patch alone (7). Stronger Immune Function: Gratitude and optimism can actually improve your body’s response to inflammation. Studies have found that our bodies produce more disease-fighting cells when we are grateful and optimistic (11). In addition, anytime you reduce cortisol, you maintain a healthier balance with DHEA levels. This supports healthy immune function (8). Better Sleep and Healthy Aging: One key factor to healthy aging is brain health. One necessity for brain health is sleep. Fortunately, gratitude supports better sleep (9)! In one study, gratitude was linked to a 10 percent improvement in sleep and a 19 percent decrease in depression levels in patients with insomnia (10). Looking for More Ways to Improve Physical and Mental Health? Did you know there’s an all-natural oil that can help with stress and anxious feelings? In addition, it supports health throughout the body! Hemp oil, specifically nano-particle oils like those in Dr. Colbert’s Nano-Science Hemp Oil, promotes health from your brain to your toes. We are fortunate to be able to use natural plants in our lives to support our health. Another thing for which to be grateful! Bottom Line November is the perfect opportunity to focus on a grateful heart. Make it count! Spend time with God, truly seek out and list your blessings, help and encourage others, and give yourself grace this month! To read the original article click here.

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The Difference Between Rest & Restoration, Why Resting Alone Is Not Sufficient

AHA Publisher — Fri, 12 Feb 2021 08:00:29 +0000

Dr. Caroline Leaf – In the middle of a global pandemic, the idea of rest seems so…complicated. What is it? How do you do it? How do you find peace when things seem so crazy? In this podcast (episode #253) and blog, I talk about the difference between resting to restore versus just resting, why rest alone is often not enough, and how to use a Neurocycle to effectively and sustainably restore your mind and brain. How many of you have ever binge-watched a Netflix show because you desperately needed a break, only to feel completely unrested the minute the binge ends? How many of you went on that weekend break or holiday, and came back feeling like you are still exhausted, even though you spent hours lying on that beach and going for long walks in beautiful scenery? If this sounds familiar, you are not alone! Indeed, finding ways to rest well can be incredibly challenging — it is a recurring challenge in my life. Although there is a ton of information out there (just look at how many social media posts are encouraging you to make self-care a routine part of your regimen!), so many people are still exhausted and burned out. It seems like almost every day I get a new article or research notification telling me how bad things are! So, what can we do? Is there hope? Although this may sound counterintuitive, rest has so much to do with the mind. Regardless of what technique we use or thing we do to rest, if we can’t manage what is going through our heads, it can backfire on us, leaving us feeling tired and downcast. To do this, I recommend doing a Neurocycle, the scientific mind-management process I have developed and researched over the past three decades and discuss in my upcoming book Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess and in my latest clinical trials. These 5 steps can help you learn how to rest well—speaking from experience. Recently, I started using the Neurocycle daily to find out why I was still having frequent periods exhaustion and burn-out. I knew the main reason why I felt this way was because of the issues I was dealing with in my business and family—I knew the root cause and was analyzing this because I try to live a mind-managed lifestyle (I really do apply my own system in my life!). I also have an incredible relationship with my husband—we live and work well together. I do daily fasted workouts and hot yoga, I eat real food mindfully, I have daily infrared sauna sessions, and really do try to take care of my mind and body. But still I was not truly resting, and I kept saying “I am so exhausted”. I couldn’t seem to catch my “mental breath”, so I knew something else was going on as well, and that I needed to dig deeper to find the vein of that root in my life. So, starting on Jan 1st, for around 7 minutes a day, I went through the 5 steps of the Neurocycle (gather, reflect, write, recheck and active reach—see below) to find out why I was not feeling rested even though I was taking “breaks” and living a mind-managed lifestyle. This is what I did daily: Step 1: Gather In this step, I gathered awareness of the rest I had that day and my physical and emotional warning signals, behaviors and perspectives. Step 2: Reflect I then asked, answered and discussed why I am feeling the way I do, based on what I became aware of in step 1. Step 3: Write I then wrote my answers down to help me organize my thinking and gain more clarity into how I felt that day and why. To do this, I used a Metacog, a way of writing that is naturally and instinctively based on how we try to work out meaning from information. In this method, I focus on the essentials, which is usually around 15 to 35 percent of the information we are processing. For more on this, see my book Think, Learn, Succeed. Step 4: Recheck In this step, I did what I call a “mental autopsy”. I rechecked what I wrote on my Metacog, looking for patterns and triggers, and thought about why I felt the way I did and how I can do better. Step 5: Active Reach Lastly, I worked out an action for the day from my recheck, which would help me practice what I learnt about myself and my need to rest better that day. Today is day 34—I still have 29 days of practice left to establish this thought as a habit in this 63-day cycle. However, I was so excited at what I have discovered thus far, which is helping me enormously, that I wanted to share it with you in this podcast and blog. I noticed the obvious pretty quickly, which was that I still wasn’t taking sufficient time out, and had been swinging between a heavy workload, financial strain, and a family crisis. I addressed this through my active reaches daily by taking time alone in the sauna and having long, hot baths at night. However, I was still battling with exhaustion. So, what was going on here? What was I doing wrong? My “ah-ha” moment came around day 14 (two weeks in): I had learned how to build rest into my routine, but I still wasn’t fully restoring! So, for the next week, days 15-21, I embraced, processed and reconceptualized this realization using the 5 steps of the Neurocycle until I worked out how to rest to restore versus just rest. And this is what I want to share with you now: Let’s begin with the definition of restoration. Restoring is a transitive verb; it means to give back, to return, to put or bring back into existence and use…to renew. The opposite of restoration is to weaken, undermine, cripple, undo, depress, split or dull. Rest, on the other hand, is defined as ceasing of activity to relax and refresh, or to recover strength. I recognized that, by days 19-21, I was getting the rest bit right, but I had missed the restore element. I wasn’t watching what my chaotic mind was doing while I was resting! So, for example, when I binged watched Netflix in my infrared sauna or with my family, or went to an exercise class, or had fun with my family, I was resting physically, but not restoring. Deep down, I was still worrying about a family member, the work I had to do, how this person was going to react to that person and how could I prevent it and all these things! Instead of allowing my mind and brain to renew and return to baseline, thus bringing coherence back into my mind, I was weakening, undermining and undoing my rest, which was impacting me mentally and physically. After realizing this, I came up with four active reaches I have been doing daily to rest to restore: 1. Taking more thinker moments Research shows that we spend half to ¾ of our day in our minds and time-traveling through our thoughts and memories. How we do this can either help or harm our ability to rest well, which is why it is important that we take what I call “thinker moments” throughout the day. These are periods where we let our minds wander and daydream, which help us rest and restore because they give our brains the downtime they need to function optimally. When we let our minds wander, we internally reboot our thinking, giving our internal dialogue some quality “me time”. I have found that the best way to have a thinker moment is to close your eyes and allow your mind to release a free flow of thoughts creatively for 5 minutes. I find that having pen and paper at hand is useful during this process, so you can write down the thoughts that are flowing freely and their direction, as well as the thoughts you keep coming back to that are stealing your peace, which you can then work on in a separate Neurocycle. 2. Avoiding “milkshake” multi-tasking Multi-tasking is really not good for the brain. Even though we can do it, our minds aren’t good at this kind of scattered, jumpy thinking. It draws energy from our brain and creates something akin to a dust storm in our minds, which can affect our mental and physical health. When we multitask, we end up with what I call “milkshake thinking”, which is the opposite of mindfulness. Every rapid, incomplete, and low quality shift of thought makes a “milkshake” with our brain cells and neurochemicals, which is the opposite of how the brain is designed to function. When we consciously try to jump rapidly from one task to another, we essentially cloud our ability to concentrate and think deeply, which impacts our ability to do a task well, leading to unnecessary levels of anxiety and stress in our life. If you are anything like me, sometimes it is hard to resist the temptation to multi-task when resting. However, I realized that when I consciously made an effort not to multi-task (I did a Neurocycle on this too!), I really did feel more restored and renewed. 3. Making my rest periods about myself, not other people. I came to the realization that I need to make my rest periods about my rest, and stop letting other people pull on my energy reserves. Indeed, you can’t help someone or deal with them if they are on your mind all the time, because it will wear you down. I also realized that being around negative people resulted in poor restoration. I needed to balance my time with healthy people and healthy, happy conversations, and I needed to enforce my own boundaries. 4. Practicing self-regulation. I realized that I felt more restored if I prepared myself mentally before whatever rest activity I was going to do, and self-regulated my thinking during my periods of rest to make sure I appreciated every moment. I would ask myself questions like “what am I thinking of now?”, “Is this bringing me mental peace?” and “Can I solve it now? If yes, then solve it and move on, and if no, then set a later time to deal with it”. To read the original article click here. For more articles from Dr. Leaf click here.

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